James T. Fields, 1817-1881, was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For
many years he was partner in the well-known firm of Ticknor & Fields
(Later Fields, Osgood & Co.), the leading publishers of standard American
literature. For eight years, he was chief editor of the "Atlantic
Monthly;" and, after he left that position, he often enriched its pages by
the productions of his pen. During his latter years Mr. Fields gained some
reputation as a lecturer. His literary abilities were of no mean order:
but he did not do so much in producing literature himself, as in aiding
others in its production.
###
Mrs. Chub was rich and portly,
Mrs. Chub was very grand,
Mrs. Chub was always reckoned
A lady in the land.
You shall see her marble mansion
In a very stately square,--
Mr. C. knows what it cost him,
But that's neither here nor there.
Mrs. Chub was so sagacious,
Such a patron of the arts,
And she gave such foreign orders
That she won all foreign hearts.
Mrs. Chub was always talking,
When she went away from home,
Of a most prodigious painting
Which had just arrived from Rome.
"Such a treasure," she insisted,
"One might never see again!"
"What's the subject?" we inquired.
"It is Jupiter and Ten!"
"Ten what?" we blandly asked her
For the knowledge we did lack,
"Ah! that I can not tell you,
But the name is on the back.
"There it stands in printed letters,--
Come to-morrow, gentlemen,--
Come and see our splendid painting,
Our fine Jupiter and Ten!"
When Mrs. Chub departed,
Our brains began to rack,--
She could not be mistaken
For the name was on the back.
So we begged a great Professor
To lay aside his pen,
And give some information
Touching "Jupiter and Ten."
And we pondered well the subject,
And our Lempriere we turned,
To find out who the Ten were;
But we could not, though we burned.
But when we saw the picture,--
O Mrs. Chub! Oh, fie! O!
We perused the printed label,
And 't was JUPITER AND IO!
NOTES.--John Lempriere, an Englishman, was the author of a "Classical
Dictionary" which until the middle of the present century was the chief
book of reference on ancient mythology.
Io is a mythical heroine of Greece, with whom Jupiter was enamored.